Anatomy of a Failed Pandemic Response
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P A R T S I I I & I V ANATOMY OF A FAILED PANDEMIC RESPONSE A S e r i e s o f C r i t i c a l P a p e r s o n D u t e r t e A d m i n i s t r a t i o n ' s C O V I D - 1 9 I n t e r v e n t i o n s Senator Leila M. de Lima Photo by KJ Rosales/Philippines Star PART III D U T E R T E A D M I N I S T R A T I O N ’ S M E D I C A L R E S P O N S E A N D H E A L T H S E C T O R S U P P O R T PART IV H U M A N R I G H T S R E P R E S S I O N I N T H E N A M E O F P E A C E A N D O R D E R A N A T O M Y O F A F A I L E D P A N D E M I C R E S P O N S E On Monday, 27 July 2020, President Rodrigo R. Duterte will deliver his penultimate State of the Nation Address (SONA). At front and center of today’s public discussion is his administration’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. As the effectivity of Republic Act No. 11469, or the “Bayanihan to Heal as One Act” had lapsed last June 25, Sen. Leila M. de Lima embarked on an analysis of key areas of the government’s response, particularly: (a) budget interventions; (b) welfare and social protection; (c) medical response and health sector support; and (d) human rights and peace & order. Regularly submitting her comments to the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee with respect to all 14 weekly reports from President Duterte, pursuant to Section 5 of RA No. 11469, Senator De Lima has optimally used her lenses as human rights and social justice champion, being the Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Social Justice, Welfare and Rural Development. These weekly comments, along with additional research inputs from her office’s Legislative Affairs Unit, have provided the bases for a series of analysis reports on the Duterte administration’s implementation of the Bayanihan Act, which the Senator has dubbed as the “Anatomy of a Failed Pandemic Response”. This is the second and last half of the series, with Part III focusing on medical response, and Part IV discussing human rights at the time of pandemic. Parts I and Part II, which delve on budget interventions and welfare system for marginalized and vulnerable groups, respectively, were published yesterday, 22 July 2020. Photo from Unsplash JULY 2020 PAGE | 02 A N A T O M Y O F A F A I L E D P A N D E M I C R E S P O N S E : P A R T I I I DUTERTE shared the genetic sequence of the virus that was sending thousands to seek medical ADMINISTRATION’S assistance, and hundreds to their unexpected demise. A day later, officials confirmed a case MEDICAL RESPONSE in Thailand – the first recorded case outside AND HEALTH China. [8] On 23 January, weeks after the virus was SECTOR SUPPORT made known to the world, Wuhan was finally placed on a lockdown.[ 9] Some observed that By Senator Leila M. de Lima it was a belated response,[ 10 ] with five million residents having already left and travelled to The origins neighboring countries to seek refuge.[ 11 ]Despite On the last day of 2019, a brewing crisis – that the pleas from the Filipinos to shut the was, according to whispers, deliberately country’s borders while it still was ahead of [1] hidden from the public until it could no the game,[ 12] 600 Chinese tourists arriving on longer be contained [2 ] – finally emerged. On 31 different flights from Wuhan were able to December 2019, the Wuhan Municipal Health enter the country [13 ] – before our airports and Commission in China finally reported a cluster seaports were even equipped with health and of cases of pneumonia in Wuhan, Hubei safety protocols that the medical emergency Province.[ 3] The revelation came weeks after demanded. It was the cataclysmic event that the first [4] reported cases surfaced in the triggered the nation’s catastrophic battle province – prompting speculations about the against the virus that would later infect actual figures and the real threat that was millions and kill by the hundreds of about to hit the world. It was a medical thousands globally. mystery that was unfolding before the eyes of the world, waiting for the seeds that it has The ties that bind, the ties that break us silently planted to germinate, hatch and While the stories from neighboring countries wreak havoc. should have sounded the alarm, the Philippines failed – by acquiescence, by [5] Four days later, on 4 January 2020, the World neglect, by tolerance – to heed the warnings. Health Organization (WHO) revealed on social It did not immediately close our borders to media what was then only the subject of the virus which could have been contained speculations among colleagues in the had health protocols been immediately set in medical field about a new virus spreading place in our ports. around and causing a hurried diaspora from amongst the populace in the Chinese It was the earliest days of the crisis, and the province first and most affected. A week later, Filipinos were filled with fear after having China reported its first known death from the seen in news articles how the virus quickly illness.[ 6] It was the earliest days of the virus – debilitated the health systems even of the medical experts and scientists traced the [1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/03/10/wuhan-officials-tried-cover-up-covid-19-sent-it- disease to a newly discovered zoonotic careening-outward/ [2] https://asiatimes.com/2020/04/how-china-hid-tens-of-thousands-of-virus-deaths/ [3] https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/29-06-2020-covidtimeline coronavirus. They initially dubbed is as the [4] https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/coronavirus-pandemic-started-between-october-6-and- december-11-last-year-says-report-2224751 2019 novel coronavirus or 2019-nCoV, a new [5] https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/27-04-2020-who-timeline---covid-19 [6] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/10/world/asia/china-virus-wuhan-death.html virus whose origins remained unknown, and [7] Supra Note 4 [8] https://www.who.int/csr/don/14-january-2020-novel-coronavirus-thailand-ex-china/en/ whose virulence the world was yet to [9] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/23/coronavirus-panic-and-anger-in-wuhan-as-china- orders-city-into-lockdown [10] https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2020/01/24/this-time-im-scared-experts-fear-too-late-for- shockingly discover. china-virus-lockdown.html [11] https://www.businessinsider.com/5-million-left-wuhan-before-coronavirus-quarantine-2020-1 [12] https://www.rappler.com/nation/250603-netizens-reaction-philippines-coronavirus-case-china- travel-ban [7] On 12 January 2020, China finally publicly [13] https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1220319/doh-should-watch-kalibo-after-departure-of-500-wuhan- tourists JULY 2020 PAGE | 03 A N A T O M Y O F A F A I L E D P A N D E M I C R E S P O N S E : P A R T I I I most developed countries. Having witnessed that ultimately exacerbated the crisis. several countries shutting their doors,[ 14 ][1 5] the Ignoring the tell-tale signs of a brewing people begged the government to shut our storm, it refused to accept the prudent borders and to stop issuing visas on arrival. response that any health crisis of this They demanded that their safety and health magnitude entailed. be made top priority – as good governance entails. But it was the very Department of The chaos escalated when the world’s first Health (DOH) Secretary, who should have COVID-19 death outside China was recorded been most apprised of the risks that our here in the Philippines. [2 3]This, after Secretary country and our people are being exposed to, Duque turned a blind eye as the residents that declared before the members of the from Wuhan continued to arrive in the House of Representatives [16 ] how our ties with Philippines against the behest of the Filipinos China weigh more heavily than the threat of to shut our borders. It was a foreboding virus. [17 ] It was the most eloquent declaration warning of what would later become the of Secretary Francisco Duque’s true priorities – longest lockdown in the world that entailed it was a reflection of how he led our country’s trillions in spending and debt. fight with the virus to a defeat. It was only on 16 March 2020 that the entire In the midst of a health crisis of epic Luzon with all of its 57 million inhabitants proportions, the man who should have been was placed under an Enhanced Community at the top of his game, feared shutting our Quarantine (ECQ),[ 24 ] and our ports were shut borders would hurt the feelings of our down.[ 25 ] A thousand cases too late.